Owner, Wolfe Energy LLC; Co-Founder, groSolar

Senior Vice President of Business Strategy, Just Energy; Co-Founder, groSolar

We pray it is not true, but “crisis” may be the only tool powerful enough to evoke the change needed to conquer the environmental and energy challenges we are facing today. We can’t see parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, so when we hear we need to be at 350 ppm, but are now over 400 ppm, it fails to instill enough action. We can’t feel on a daily basis how 2 degrees Celsius would affect us, so it is an ineffective motivator to encourage us to change our ways.

In addition, for over a century we have allowed the industrial revolution to use the atmosphere as a free dumping ground while we become ever more addicted to fossil fuels. It is incredibly hard for a civilization to break the habit of high profits, power, and convenience afforded by cheap energy. Where education is abundant and forward-thinking citizens harken to scientists’ warnings, change can and is happening. But not fast enough nor among a broad enough base of citizens.

Can devastating floods such as Irene and Sandy, long-lasting droughts as experienced in California, and other environmental crises provide the catalyst needed to inspire us to reach the next level? We hope we can change sooner, as happened with the ozone layer, for with crisis comes high casualties, especially to those most vulnerable in our society. For that reason, Jeff and I have long worked to bring renewable energy to the fore, effecting change now for a better future.

Dori and Jeff Wolfe atop the roof of the former offices of groSolar on River Road in White River Junction, VT. Photo courtesy of Dori and Jeff Wolfe.